Except for my exercise plan <ahem>, I’m having a very productive early January! I took two big winter weather events in stride and stuck to my quilting plan for the year. I know it’s early, but it’s still a reason to celebrate, don’t you think?  Let me enumerate:

1. I rearranged my sewing space based on some great advice/comments I received to my Let There be Light post. As a result, there is currently nothing below my window — whew. Boots has been able reclaim his napping spot and my computer desk is oriented so that it’s facing the door, not beside it. My ironing board is now where the desk was and the sewing cabinet is back in it’s old spot to the left of the window.  Somehow the flow feels much, much better. I should learn more about Feng Shui (including how to pronounce it). There is certainly something calming about a well-designed room.
   

   Bootsie lounging in his favorite chair with the sun warming his old bones. He’s an indoor-outdoor kitty, but he hasn’t been outside in days. The snow would surely be above his head! My original design Boudoir quilt is in the background. 

2. My Drops of Rainbow quilt has been back from Ms. G, (my wonderful long arm quilter) for a couple of weeks. I attached the binding right away, but then got distracted by Christmas. Since it wasn’t a planned gift, I brought it and my hand-binding kit down to the family room, expecting to  finish it quickly. Then came more distractions, additional glasses of wine, mountains of bon-bon eating, etc. etc. Meanwhile, the quilt was put to good use. My son likes to sleep on that sofa and he’s an equal opportunity quilt snuggler, so the not-quite-completed quilt made for handy napping. However, Friday night’s big snowfall meant that there was no more viable distractions/excuses: it was time to start bonding with my quilt. I finished the binding on last night.
   

   I know, I know, I’ve read that you can attach both sides of a binding with a machine, but I love the handwork at the end of the creative process!

3. One of my friends retired this year. Around the same time, her daughter passed away quickly and unexpectedly. My heart aches for her and I’m making a quilt to hopefully bring her some comfort. Finally all the pieces are cut and I can start putting them together. I am hoping for a May completion date, which will be in time for her birthday. True Blue from Miss Rosie’s Spice of Life Quilts will contain 100 cream/blue blocks surrounded by a piano key border. 
4. My Pottery Barn up-cycled table runner is nearly complete. I created this paper-pieced Spring Chicken to go with the dust ruffle flowers and she just makes me smile! You can make her too with this pattern.

And just for fun, here is a frost-covered maple tree that marks one of the farm’s boundaries. When I drove by yesterday (Sunday), there was a magnificent hawk perched in the very tippy top branches. Alas, I scared her away before I could snap a portrait, but the tree was too beautiful to ignore. This blue is unedited — it’s incredible, isn’t it?

 

Are you accomplishing your January goals?